


Dream

by ciipherdrabbles, orphan_account



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Dreaming, Dreams, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Post-Steven Universe: The Movie, sleeping, slightly angsty
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-15
Updated: 2019-10-18
Packaged: 2020-12-17 05:37:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,505
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21049181
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ciipherdrabbles/pseuds/ciipherdrabbles, https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Steven teaches Spinel how to sleep, but something's wrong with her dreams.





	1. An Unstoppable Nightmare

**Author's Note:**

> Angst
> 
> a n g s t
> 
> a n g s t

"And you just… lie still and close your eyes?" Spinel tilted her head in confusion at the gem-human hybrid boy in pajamas.

"Yeah, humans do it to recharge their energy, so to speak," Steven explained, lying down beside the fuchsia gem.

Spinel shrugged as she lay down next to him. The idea of staying still again bothered her, but at least this time she wouldn't be alone.

Spinel looked to her side, where Steven was in his pajamas. He was staring at her expectantly. The duo stared at each other for a while before Steven piped up,  
"Do I have to describe the dream I had last night? That usually helps. It did with Pearl all those years ago. Let's see what I remember.."

Spinel looked at him, confused. "What do you mean, that 'usually helps'? When doesn't it work?"

Steven laughed, "It always works, I just like saying 'usually'. Anyways, last night I had a dream about Lion, and he was on a boat with me and for some reason he had fingers, right? And then this huge shark came out of the ocean, and it also looked like Lion! I couldn't believe it because then he started talking to me and he said 'Hi Steven' and I was like 'What??' and…"

He looked over and saw Spinel with her eyes closed. There was no other way of telling she was asleep since the Gems didn't need to breathe. Steven laid down next to her and closed his eyes, drifting away.

⎯⎯⎯

Steven felt the bed jostle as Spinel shot up from her resting pose. Her breathing was quick and erratic, and she was clutching her gem. 

"Spinel?" Steven whispered, rubbing his eyes. "What happened?"

When Spinel turned to look at Steven, tears began rushing from her eyes. She wasted no time in hugging him tightly. He reciprocated. Spinel eventually pulled away, wiping the tears from her eyes. 

"Do you want to talk about it?" Steven asked. Spinel shook her head and rolled off his bed. 

"I don't feel like sleeping," she said as she left the room.

“Spinel, wait-” But she was already downstairs.

Steven furrowed his brows in concern. Was she okay? What happened?

However, his drowsiness started kicking in. He would probably have to ask her in the morning.

⎯⎯⎯

“You wanna try again? It’s really rare to have the same dream in a row.”

Spinel looked at Steven with hesitation. “But the last dream I had… wasn’t pleasant…”

Steven frowned at this. He had tried to ask Spinel about her dream that morning, but she didn’t respond. He figured maybe it was best kept to herself.

“Spinel, I only got dreams multiple times cuz of being connected to Lapis when she was at the bottom of the ocean. Most humans don’t have repeating dreams like that.”

Most? Spinel considered that choice of words. If it was rare, maybe she had nothing to worry about.

“Well… okay. I’ll try again.”

The two laid down, with nothing but calm and tranquil serenity around them.

⎯⎯⎯

Steven was startled awake by a scream from right next to him again. He sat up to see Spinel curled up in a ball upright, sobbing.

“Spinel! Are you okay?!”

“I… I-I had that dream again…”

It was recurring? That wasn’t a good sign.

The pink gem allowed Steven to place his hand on her shoulder. She would be staying up beside him tonight.

⎯⎯⎯

A week had passed since the first day she had the dream, and Spinel had relentlessly continued sleeping, despite it being harmful to her. Steven had enough, and knew he had to do something. 

"Spinel, I had an idea," Steven said while they were hanging out on the couch. He fidgeted with his hands, barely looking her in the eye, "I think that.. maybe I could go into your dreams tonight and help you?"

"You can do that?" Spinel said, startled. She quickly shook it off, "I don't want you to hold my burden, Steven!"

"But I can help!"

"No, you can't! You don't understand what it is!"

"Maybe if you told me, I would!" Steven snapped. He continued, "I'm sorry, Spinel, I really want to help."

"Just this once," the Gem looked at him. Steven felt a chill run down his spine when he saw her eyes. How dark they looked. "You won't want to be near me ever again after seeing it anyway."

Steven clutched Spinel's hand, leading her up the stairs to his room.

⎯⎯⎯

When Steven opened his eyes, the scenery around him was dark but spotted with stars above him. Columns were broken, some pieces floating in midair, and the area was covered, untamed grass, vines, and wilting flowers. A platform with a warp pad nearby, and a still running fountain were the centerpieces of the area.

“... Mom’s garden.”

It clicked. She was stuck in her trauma. He looked around and noticed Spinel, standing in the midst of it all.

“Spinel!!” Steven cried out. He rushed towards her, and she turned to see him.

“Steven! You’re actually here!” She looked surprised, but neither a pleasant or distressing one.

Steven grabbed her hands. “C’mon, we’ll find a way out of here.”

“Steven, wait-”

But as Steven tried to tug her with him, she wouldn’t budge.

“Why’re you just standing there? Come on, you can move now! You’re not playing Mom’s game!”

“Steven…”

“I can’t.”

As soon as she said that, the hybrid boy looked down to see roots and vines over her feet.

“Huh? T-They’re that strong?”

Spinel tried to move, but her feet would hardly budge. 

“Steven, I-”

They were cut off by a stream of vines shooting up from the grass to push him back. When Steven stood up again, recovering from the hit, he looked on in shock to see the vines beginning to circle around Spinel, working their way up.

She looked terrified. She tried to move as much as she could, and was unable to stretch her arm down to tear the vines away. They had begun wrapping around her ankles, her feet now completely enveloped in vines as a cylindrical wall of vines began to surround her.

“Steven, help!!”

Steven wasted no time rushing to Spinel, trying to tear the vines that began blocking her from him. The vines had reached up to her hips, creeping up to her waist.

“Spinel, hold on! I’m gonna get you out of here!”

The vines were moving even faster, the wall of vines about to envelop all but her face and her arm, which she outstretched without actually stretching herself like usual to try and grab Steven.

“STEVEN!!”

“SPINEL!”

Steven quickly grabbed onto Spinel’s hand, but as soon as he did, the vines enveloped her completely, moving down her arm and connecting to his.

“W-Wait, h-hold on!”

The vines were now starting to trap him too. He tore away some vines with his free hand, leaving Spinel’s face more visible.

But the vines were moving too fast. Steven and Spinel got a glimpse of each other before their vision was obscured.


	2. The Dream

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In the deep, dark depths of Spinel's mind, Steven helps her recover.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The last chapter. The final frontier. Blah blah blah

Steven couldn't even look down as the ground opened up beneath them, and the duo disappeared into the endless void. The vines were torn off of them and fell up into the sky.

"Spinel!" Steven grabbed her hands and pulled her closer. "What's happening?"

"I don't know! This hasn't ever happened before, Steven!" Spinel felt tears rushing to her eyes, and she closed them before they could overflow. "You saved me... kinda."

"Spinel, I'm sorry I didn't know it was this.." Steven looked out into the endless void which was turning into a blank room. They were still falling, and couldn't get down despite the floor being right below their feet. "..traumatizing."

The two floated down when Pink Diamond appeared in the middle of the room. Steven gripped Spinel's hand tighter, backing up slowly. He hit a wall shortly after, but he noticed Spinel hadn't even moved. Her hand was stretching with Steven and her form was rigid. 

She was staring at Pink.

"Spinel, this isn't real," Steven reminded her. Pink Diamond began to walk towards the two. Steven finally realized her full height. She must've been 10 feet tall, easily covering the forms of the duo in a shadow.

"But it looks so.. real," Spinel reached out to touch Pink. She disappeared into a cloud of dust. The pink Gem crumbled into a heap on the floor, holding her two ponytails. She looked like she was about to rip them off, but the tears flowing from her eyes told a different story.

“Spinel…” Steven put an arm around her, but pulled away from shock when suddenly, vines formed from the dust of Pink Diamond to wrap around her wrists, like jail chains connected to the ground. She tried to fight her way out of the vines, but they wouldn’t break.

“Get away from Spinel!” He brought out his shield and used it to cut apart the vines around her wrists, forming a bubble around them. The vines came back with a vengeance, and wrapped around the bubble, leaving the only source of light and color being the bubble.

The pink gem leaned back until she was close to completely lying down, the bubble being the only thing to prop her up. Steven rushed over to grab her by the shoulders.

“Spinel!!” The pink gem’s eyes were shut, gushing gallons of tears that streaked down her cheeks as she clutched her upside-down heart-shaped gem, loudly gasping for air for the breathing exercises Steven taught her, but it wasn’t working.

“Spinel, you’re okay, I’m here!” Steven leaned over her, her legs in between his, giving her a worried expression but trying his best to keep calm for her despite the small tears at the corners of his eyes.

"Steven?" she opened her eyes, surprised to see him there. Seeing him again made the vines stop pounding the bubble slightly. 

"Spinel, just listen to me," Steven gently cupping her cheeks with his hands, forcing her to look at him. "Nothing here can hurt you unless you want it to."

"But…" Spinel looked down at her gem. "I want it to."

"You do?" Steven pulled back out of shock. He was starting to get weak from the ceaseless pounding on the bubble by the vines. 

"I.. should have just stayed," Spinel choked out a sob, "Right where I was, in the Garden. Why did I even think of coming to Earth?"

"Spinel, you wouldn't be here with me now if you didn't," Steven said, tears threatening to finally escape, "I can't imagine my life without you. You helped me in more ways than I can imagine."

She continued to cry, putting her hands over her face to hide from Steven. Her gem felt hot to the core, and she was sure if she touched it, her form would melt. Steven gently pulled her hands off of her face, and they made eye contact briefly. Broken soul to an even more broken one.

"Let me help you."

The bubble burst, tearing apart all the vines around it. The two stood up to see Spinel in her previous form standing farther in front of them. Her hair and ‘clothing’ were disheveled and dirty, like she had been before first seeing Steven’s broadcast, with her gem still right-side-up.

The real Spinel’s eyes widened. “Is that… me…?”

They walked closer to the other Spinel, who was standing solitarily.

“Why would he feel that way? Does he even know?”

He? Steven’s brow was raised, while Spinel stood and watched in shock.

“What is this? Do I just talk to him? He always told me I can talk to him.”

Spinel slightly reached out towards the other her but didn’t move from her spot. Bunches of blue flowers with yellow circles at the center formed around her feet.

“No, I can’t. What would he say? He’d just try and get away from me too…”

“Would he ever come back?”

She held a pink hibiscus in her hand.

“Is she ever coming back?”

Spinel finally moved towards her past self. But as she tried to touch her, she felt still as a stone.

“Spinel, why isn’t she- you, moving?”

“... I’m not really free from a garden, am I?” The dream Spinel uttered before she dissipated into smoke and her gem fell to the ground. It wasn’t moving, like she wouldn’t reform, until that too burst into pink smoke.

Statues made of pink crystal began to rise from the ground. They were of Pink Diamond, standing on pink crystalline pedestals with a serene look on her face. They all opened their eyes, glowing a bright pink with no sight of her pupils as they took a step off of their pedestals in unison, circling around the two.

“Spinel! You’ve got to snap out of it! You don’t deserve this!” Steven pulled out his shield, preparing for the Pink Diamond statues that slowly closed in around them.

“But I-”

“But nothing! Mom was terrible, I know! She messed up! I’ve cleaned up her mistakes! And you are not a mistake to me!”

Spinel’s eyes widened at Steven’s words, looking into his eyes as she held close to him.

“But I wasn’t good enough for her! If I was worthless enough to be left on a floating garden in space, then why do you act like I’m worth more than I am?!”

“Because! Mom may not have cared about you…”

Steven’s eyes were tearing up.

“But I DO!”

If Spinel had a physical heart, it would have stopped right then. The Pink Diamond statues shattered into pieces of pink crystal as the two felt themselves falling again. The black, empty void around them was filled with colors of light blue, white, and soft pink.

“You aren’t disposable! You’re one of a kind to me! My mom made mistakes, but you’re one of the good things that came out from her!”

Spinel was pulled slowly closer to him as they fell, with Spinel falling backwards and Steven above her.

“Do you believe me?”

Tears fell upwards from Spinel’s eyes as she gripped Steven’s hands and let him pull her closer.

“I… I do.”

She smiled at that. Steven looked at her with pleasant surprise and laughed excitedly as he embraced his arms around her, slowly leaning in….

⎯⎯⎯

The duo woke up as sunlight streamed in from the windows. They were holding hands. 

Spinel was the first to pull herself up, but she didn't dare let go of Steven. The hybrid rubbed his eyes, using all his strength to pull up his upper body and look at Spinel.

"It worked," Spinel said in awe. "We slept through the night."

"We did," Steven said, leaning closer. "We did it together."

"Do you wanna do the real thing this time?"

“The… what?”

“This.”

Spinel felt the warmth of Steven’s lips on hers. The healing ability from his saliva sent an excited tingle through her form.

“What… was that?”

“On Earth, it’s called ‘kissing’.”

“... I like it.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments, kudos, criticism is appreciated!


End file.
